Doye O'Dell - see artist discography

James O'Gwynn - see artist discography

The Oklahoma Wranglers "Hillbilly Rhythm" (BACM, 2007)
Wow - this one's a revelation! The Oklahoma Wranglers were an early nom de hick for The Willis Brothers, an also-ran hillbilly band who I primarily know from their many repackaged albums on the various Starday/Gusto imprints. Over the years I've tried out a few of those old LPs, all with material of an indeterminate 1950s/1960s origin, and I always found them to be a bit dispirited and workmanlike, with a palpable air of their own long-exhausted self-awareness of their second-rate status. This disc, though, goes back to the days when they were still having fun, a great collection of hillbilly novelty songs, punctuated with some fine, rough-edged heartsongs and weepers. These recordings, dating from 1947-50, come from major labels such as Coral and RCA Victor -- the sound quality's great, and the music is a real hoot. Definitely worth checking out. The Wranglers were originally based in Shawnee, Oklahoma but later joined the cast of the Brush Creek Follies, a regional variety show based in Kansas City, where they worked until 1942, when they all put their musical careers on hold in order to enlist and fight in WWII. After the war, they reformed the band and got an even more prestigious slot on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, where they evolved into the Willis Brothers band. (By the way, if you can find it, The Golden Age Of The Willis Brothers, another collection on Cattle Records, comes from the same era and is worth tracking down as well...)

Okra All-Stars "The Okra All-Stars" (OKra Records, 1994)
Another gorgeous album by High Sheriff Ricky Barnes and his crew. Dave Schramm, Hank McCoy and Jeb Loy Nichols team up with Barnes to cook up one of the warmest, most listenable alt-country albums ever made... Plenty of great cover versions such as Buck Owens' "I Wouldn't Live In New York City," John Anderson's "Wild and Blue," Merle's "Shade Tree Fix-It Man," and Prince's "Purple Rain" (beating the Derailers out by about six years!). Of course, it wouldn't be a Ricky Barnes masterpiece without at least one Louvin Brothers song, in this case a sweet, sweet version of "Don't Laugh." Several other highlights here, especially the mega-bummer "Big Mistake," "Falling Fast," and "Let's Build A Bridge", which has one of those charmingly intricate, old-timey music box melodies of the sort that the Carter Family specialized in. Highly recommended.

Old & In The Way - see my Bluegrass section

The 101 Ranch Boys "Melody Roundup With The 101 Ranch Boys" (Binge Disc, 2004)
A nice set by a little-known western outfit that originally hailed from Kansas City, Kansas. Led by guitarist George Long, the Ranch Boys plugged away in the 1930s, moving from station to station, and eventually fell into the orbit of Gene Autry (who they backed on tour) and other cowboy singers such as Smiley Burnette and Johnny Bond. They weren't big stars, but their fiddle-and-steel-tinged sound was quite pleasant, with genial vocals to match. A nice set of rare recordings, definitely worth checking out, if you're into the style.

Gene O'Quin "The Late Gene O'Quin: A Hillbilly At Heart" (Castle Records, 19--?) (LP)
A Texas twangster, honkytonker Gene O'Quin (1932-1978) was a teenage star on the "Big D Jamboree" radio show in Dallas, though he moved out to California to record for Capitol Records throughout the early 1950s. Judging from his prolific output, O'Quin was consistently popular during the pre-rock'n'roll era, though admittedly was not a big chart artist. He was largely neglected by reissue labels, though, with these off-brand offerings from the Binge Disc proto-labels filling the void until Bear Family finally jumped in with it's '90s-era CD (below). Even though that Bear family compilation largely mirrors these vinyl LPs, it's worth noting that the earlier collections include a lot of material that was not included on the digital release. This disc, in particular, has by my count nine tracks not gathered onto the CD and even though the Castle Records-era albums are routinely overlooked because of their sparse graphics, the music is dynamite.

Gene O'Quin "A Country Music Retrospect To The 1950s, Volume 5: Gene O'Quin" (Castle Records, 19--?) (LP)
This second set of vinyl-era reissue discs has more tracks on it that are duplicated on the Bear Family CD -- and only three tracks that were not. The set includes three songs credited to Gene O'Quin as composer, with one of those -- "I Wish It Was Only A Dream" that was only reissued on this album. There are also a couple of songs penned by Tommy Collins, showing the influence of the West Coast country scene, and the burgeoning roots of the so-called Bakersfield Sound. Old-school country collectors might recognize the goofy, low-budget cover art of this particular era of reissues, when the cash-strapped Castle label would use the same janky artwork for albums by multiple artists -- each musician assigned a number to show who was showcased on which album, though the inner labels on the discs themselves would be different. Understandably, a lot of people aren't fond of these albums, though I've always been interested in how they illustrate the precarious nature of country reissues in the pre-digital era, and in a time when major labels basically had zero interest in mining their back-catalogs for hillbilly gems with very limited commercial appeal. This particular release is also a bit of a rosetta stone, showing a clear through line to the Cowgirlboy Records/Binge Disc company: this is the same album as the Cowgirlboy LP below, just with cruder artwork and less information provided on the liner notes.

Gene O'Quin "Hard Country Music From The Heart" (Cowgirlboy Records, 19--?) (LP)
This is the same set list as the Country Music Retrospect album above, just with moderately better packaging

Gene O'Quin "Boogie Woogie Fever" (Bear Family Records, 2000)
The vinyl reissues above do pop up from time to time, at least around my neck of the woods, and I dutifully possess my own copies, though for most folks this Bear Family CD is the way to go. Generously programmed with thirty tracks -- including four that were previously unreleased -- it's a sweeping overview of O'Quin's best work, including his most well-known songs, such as "Boogie Woogie Fever" and "The Pinball Millionaire." Fun stuff. We should also note here that Gene O'Quin died quite young, the victim of a Southern California auto accident where he car was struck by a bus, not long after his forty-sixth birthday.

Jimmie Osborne "Hills Of Roan County" (BACM, 2005)

Bonnie Owens - see artist discography

Buck Owens - see artist discography

Dusty Owens "Swingin' And Rockin' Western Style" (Binge Disc, 2002)
Great stuff. If you're looking for unknown, authentic, totally kickass honkytonkers from years gone by, you should go out of your way to track down this German collector's-edition disc... These old Columbia recordings aren't likely to get reissued aboveboard anytime soon, and more's the pity for hard country fans here in the States... Midwesterner Dusty Owens had a great personality, mixing energetic hillbilly nuttiness ala Little Jimmy Dickens or Porter Wagoner with a deep reservoir of heartsong soulfulness. This album has fewer songs on it than most Binge Disc releases -- sixteen tracks from 1953-57 -- but every one of them is a winner, with great lyrics and musical backup that included Nashville hotshots like Chet Atkins, Lightning Chance, Don Helms and Buddy Spicher. What's best about this set, though, is the infusion of "new" songs into the honkytonk canon -- nearly all of the songs were written by Owens himself, and none of them are songs the average country fan would know about, outside of this fine release. This is a record I can listen to over and over... I think you'll like it, too!

Dusty Owens "Country Ballads" (Wyncote Records, 19--?) (LP)

Dusty Owens "... Sings Once More" (Admiral Records, 19--?)
I have no info about this one, other than it exists. Not sure when the tracks were recorded, but judging from the album title, I'd suspect it came pretty late in the game... Maybe in the 1970s?

Vernon Oxford - see artist discography

Hick Music Index